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Old 5 Jan 14, 07:28 PM  
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We're going to be where?! At what time?! November 2013 - Day 12 & 13 - Castaway Cay and Going Home

Day 12 & 13 - Castaway Cay and going home

Another day in paradise when you can wake up to this






We were up nice and early, and I really fancied a proper sit down breakfast today so we went to Royal Palace. I had eggs benedict which is about my favourite breakfast of all time so that made me happy! After we were finished we headed straight off the boat, and grabbed some towels when we hit dry land.











We walked to the bit of beach near Pelican Plunge and grabbed some loungers. Beautiful Bahamian sea here we come! And we ran back out again - it was freezing! This is Paul when it's 'warm'


This is Paul showing off the real temperature lol!


It was ok once you sucked it up and got used to it



You can just make out the fish that were swimming around our feet



We messed around in the water, and headed up to the BBQ for lunch as soon as it opened, as we had shore excursions booked that afternoon. We really enjoyed the BBQ, and grabbed a couple of packets of crisps to take back to the room with us later - and again, the ice cream machines, total stroke of genius!

We went for a bit of a wander up the beach to make sure we knew where we were going - we had a 1pm booking on jetski's baby! We hadn't told the kids about it, and when they finally figured it out they were quite excited!

We were given the safety briefing and put our lifejackets on, and were shown how to board the jetski. As Sarah isn't 18 yet she had to go with an adult, so she and Paul shared and, and David and I had a single rider one each.








Do you think he was enjoying himsef? lol sarah had salt water in her eyes

We were taken up out of the bay and around the islands - the others took to it really well but I wasn't so sure - I hung back as it was really windy and I felt like I was going to be blown off the thing completely! Sure enough when we got back they cancelled the ones after ours as it was getting too dangerous, but I'm so glad we got to do it and it's still the kids favourite thing we did all holiday, result!
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Old 5 Jan 14, 07:28 PM  
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After this we headed back to the ship hoping to get in some aqua duck time - but not at a 30 minute wait! We went into the adult pool area again and had a dip which was lovely. Back to the room afterwards to shower and get ready for dinner. We were still quite early so Sarah headed off to the teen club and the rest of us went up to the front of the ship for a drink and to watch the sun set - wow!







We met back up with Sarah and headed for dinner at Enchanted Garden. It was a lovely meal - I had Lobster Ravioli, prime rib (which was amazing! ) and strawberry cheesecake, with the Kiss Goodnight chocolates which are served on the evening of your last night on board *cry*













We popped back to the room after dinner to drop off the camera, then went down to deck 4 to have a wander around the shops then waited for Believe, the final show of the cruise to start - we rushed in and got our usual seats. Believe was really good but I think the Villans show was my favourite

After the show we headed back to the room - we had to get packed and have our bags ready for the morning!

Next up - getting off the ship, Epcot and home

I was going to do a separate post for this but I didn't really see the point as we didn't take any photos.

We were up pretty early and back to Royal Palace for breakfast. After we were done we were straight off the ship onto the transfer bus to take us to Saratoga Springs. We originally had a day room at the Hyatt booked but as I figured out that we still had park days left on our tickets I thought why not spend it in the parks! We settled on Ecpot. But we had to get rid of our luggage first. From Saratoga Springs we jumped in a taxi to the DTD check in for Virgin, and dropped our bags off with no problems. I asked the guys when we were checking in where the transfer bus would take us to the airport from and he pointed it out - ok no worries thanks! We walked through DTD to the resort buses, and caught a bus to Boardwalk to head into Epcot. We ended up getting off at Swan/Dolphin and walking through the lobby as the bus guy told us it would take another 20 mins to get around to Boardwalk.

We went into Epcot and left our hand luggage in 2 lockers at the International Gateway and headed into the park for a slow wander around. We only did a couple of rides - by the time we got around to Test Track Sarah and I were totally knackered so left the boys on it and we went into Mousegears for some last minute shopping. They came out and we called it a day, heading back to International Gateway via another amazing slushie from France.

We had a bit of a brain fart and when we got back to the front gate at Epcot it hit us that there was no bus to DTD there... rookie mistake... so we got a cab - I didn't care by this point! We went back to the place where the guy said the bus would be picking us up - mind you it didn't say anything about booking the bus on the form we were given, and I'd checked in the UK before we left to make sure we didn't have to make a booking... so we waited. We were about an hour early anyway so we all retreated into our phones not looking forward to the fact we were heading back to reality.

The first mini van came... and he didn't have room for us, nor did he have us on the list. The second mini bus came... and he didn't have us on his list either, nor room in his van... I was panicking at this point - our flight was at 6pm and it was already 4.30. The Mears driver said he would make a call and he was sure that there was another van behind him, then got in his van and drove off! I was fuming I couldn't believe it. I collected everyone up and we just went to the nearest cab rank and got our own taxi to the airport - $70 later. We made it in plenty of time to the airport especially as we had already checked in but that really isn't the point of the issue. I wrote a complaint letter to Virgin Holidays when we returned and we have since been reimbursed our taxi fare but with no explanation as to what happened - I've since cancelled our VH transfers and booked private ones with Florida Magical Tours for our trip in October...

The flight home was very uneventful, we all tried to sleep a bit, and landing back in Gatwick was pain free and pretty much no queues. The car was in the meet and greet area ready to go home - we had to play a bit of suitcase tetris but we got it all in the car and made the slow journey home.

Thanks for reading - thats it for this trip report!

Next up I'll be starting the pre trip report for our Wedding trip in October! 15 nights at the Contemporary, 7 nights concierge level on the Disney Fantasy for our honeymoon and 2 bonus nights at the Grand Floridian before we come home, excited is an understatement!
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Old 5 Jan 14, 11:09 PM  
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Nesbits
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The cruise sounds great! I have enjoyed reading about your planning trip, thanks for sharing. I will keep an eye open for the next pre-trippie.
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Old 5 Jan 14, 11:29 PM  
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MissVincent
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Sucks about ur transfers. Thanks for sharing your trip
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Old 5 Jan 14, 11:33 PM  
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Thanks for sharing Tabz, I have really enjoyed reading your report and an thoroughly looking forward to your wedding trippie
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Old 6 Jan 14, 12:01 AM  
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Thanks for sharing - really enjoyed reading. That wedding countdown is getting smaller
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Old 6 Jan 14, 05:11 PM  
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Really enjoyed reading this, thank you.

Shame about your transfers, what a nightmare, I would have been getting so stressed too!

Looking forward to the pre-wedding-trippie! You must be so excited, all sounds amazing
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Old 6 Jan 14, 05:57 PM  
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An awesome trip! I'd have been having kittens about the transfers :/

Can't wait to read the wedding trip report (not too soon tho cos I will be home by then lol)
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Old 6 Jan 14, 07:36 PM  
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Wow that sunset is completely stunning!

The cruise looked really good, sounds like you all enjoyed it

Shame about your transfer carry on, what a nightmare!

I've enjoyed reading this, thanks for sharing x
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Old 6 Jan 14, 09:38 PM  
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Sounds like a great last day on the ship.

What a shame about the transfer debacle. I would have been panicking so much!
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